The origins of The London Leatherman label
Ken was born in 1938 in Worthing, West Sussex, England. We refer to him as Ken as this is how he would introduce himself and the name he used for much of his adult life, his real name is Heddle Law Magson.
The eldest with two younger brothers Trevor and Mel, Ken was immersed in creativity and crafts from a very early age. One of the earliest influences being the time spent sheltering from air raids during WWII with his mother under the stairs, they would spend hours and hours doing needle work, she taught him how to knit and sew.
In 1956 Ken was one of the last groups of men to be drafted into the army, he signed up to the RAF and trained for three years as a chef. His interest in ice-skating and theatre developed during this time and when stationed in Cyprus he played the character Widow Twankee in a pantomime performance of Aladdin. However, his time with the RAF was cut short when letters he wrote to his boyfriend of the time were intercepted resulting in him being court martialled and sentenced to 3 years in HS Prison Wormwood Scrubs (he served 18 months).
Ken served his time and moved to London in time for the Swinging Sixties. For the first few years he worked as a chef at The Dorchester on Park Lane and for a flying club near Hyde Park and one of his first forays into clothing was somehow being able to acquire sailor’s trousers. He would peg the trousers in from waist to knee, letting them out from the knee into bell bottoms. He sold these to boutiques in London in the mid 60s.
Towards the late sixties is when Ken’s reputation for leather work and fetish wear developed, his work being sort out by both the underground fetish scene and the fashion elite on the Kings Road in Chelsea. Self-taught his cut of leather trousers were designed for fetish, style and motorcycle riding, previous to this you could only get motorcycle trousers that were baggy and fashion trousers that were either too tight or too light weight for motorcycling. He would work with terry towelling and sheer ciré fabric too making shoulder enhancing cap sleeved t-shirts and tank tops with matching men’s underwear and shorts in the same fabric.
During this time the leather accessories he designed and made such as studded wristbands, studded belts, leather underwear and masks were considered much too outrageous to display and he wouldn’t make them readily available to the public until well after the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was granted preventing the discrimination of sexual activity between men and in-turn the gay revolution that followed this. Designing and making the clothing and accessories he did was not only considered extremely outrageous for the time but was dangerous too, Ken and his customers risked being arrested or even attacked by disgruntled members of the public if word got to the wrong people.
Come the early 70s the gay revolution was in full swing and Kens designs were in very high demand, not only in England and Europe but on the East and West Coast of America too, so Ken opened The London Leatherman shop, showroom and workshop on Queenstown Road in the early 1970s. It was no longer illegal for him to display his designs so he made sure the façade of his shop was something passes by couldn’t miss. He turned the Victorian shop front into what can be described as a mysterious Swedish sauna design of slatted woodwork with a single, small glass window displaying studded accessories and men’s underwear and The London Leatherman logo emblazoned across the front, built by his brother Trevor Magson.
Even though it was legal many gay and straight customers still wanted to shop anonymously meaning his mail order catalogues were a pinnacle part of his business. At first he hand drew the entire catalogue himself with a detailed description of the item and a code for customers to use for reference. Many items from these first catalogues remained available and featured in all catalogues released into the 80s. He used a number of artists to create the catalogue artwork over the years.
With the gay revolution came the attention from other shop keepers and businesses looking to sell his designs. They would order what Ken had to offer and if they ordered enough he would sew their labels in or often no label. Many The London Leatherman items were sold in Chelsea boutiques such as Granny Takes A Trip, Mr. Freedom, Let It Rock, Sex and Seditionaries which has led to many fashion historians mis-crediting Ken’s designs as being by others such as Vivienne Westwood or Malcolm McClaren. The items sold in these boutiques feature in The London Leatherman 'Exotica' & 'Leather Wear' catalogues from the time, we refer particularly to the famous The London Leatherman leather mask popularized by Malcolm McClaren with a t-shirt . Whilst McClaren did sell a few of the masks in his Kings Road shop Malcolm also bought the mask to give to a number musicians he worked with including Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls and Adam Ant for his first gig at the ICA. The London Leatherman leather t-shirt with side zip is a very early design by Ken and sold in all of the above mentioned Kings Road boutiques, as with his ciré fabric t-shirts. The London Leatherman t-shirts crossed into a number of sub cultures from fetish, soul boy, punk rock to disco.
From 1972 The London Leatherman supplied Alan Selby’s shop on the New Kings Road with all his leather clothing and accessories. Selby moved to the USA in 1979 when soon after Ken received word that someone was manufacturing The London Leatherman 'Exotica' designs out there thinking Ken would never find out. But Ken never missed a beat in business and swiftly got on a plane to the States with associates to correct the situation.
A keen motorcyclists Ken would ride around London, mostly preferring his BMW’s. This was a secret he kept from his family as just after his 16th birthday he had a motorcycle accident and vowed never to ride again. He liked fast cars owning a Simca, Carmen Ghia and Triumph GT6. In the 70s he upholstered the interior of his Rolls Royce himself with leather.
For many years Ken lived above The London Leatherman shop in his flat on the top two floors. He later moved to his house on Alfriston Road on Clapham Common with his partner in life also named Ken and his Alsatian Sheba. In the 60s he had an Alsatian named Simba.
Ken collected exotic and tropical fish for his very large wall feature fish tank he installed in The London Leatherman showroom in the 70s and positioned just behind the till. He also had a passion for model steam boats and power racing on the Serpentine lake, of which he won many trophies.
When not working with leather, Ken would often exercise his talent for drawing, painting and needle work. His paintings and tapestries are some of the most cherished items owned by those who knew him.
Words contributed by Mel Magson, Trevor Magson, Yvonne Magson, Dave Carroll.